How to Recover Square Patio Cushions

I clicked through to a couple online stores the other day to find some new cushions for our patio chairs. Our cushions have seen better days, and we went all last summer without cushions. I had resolved that I’d slowly get them all recovered, but I never took the time to finish more than two.

I used duck cloth on the two cushions that I had refinished. From my experience, the duck cloth trapped in too much moisture, and the covers didn’t ever get fully dry. I definitely neglected to bring them inside as much as I should, and they took a beating from the sun and the rain too often. Nevertheless, they had too much mold on the inside, and I couldn’t get them clean.

Nothing brings more motivation than inviting some company over for dessert out on the patio. Like I mentioned above, I clicked through to some big box home stores to look for new cushions, but I was slightly taken aback by the $50 to $75 cushions that I liked.

Maybe I’ve taken scrappy fabric to a new level, but I quickly came up with the bright idea to use some yardage of older fabric that was given to me a few years ago. A friend was helping her mom clean out her attic. She messaged me asking if I’d be interested in some fabric, and I quickly said, ‘sure!’ That fabric came in pretty handy this week. Since it takes quite a bit of yardage to recover these cushions, I had to decide to have them a bit mismatched.

If you are after a more matched sort of look and need a place to find some canvas or denim fabric, take a look at The Confident Stitch. They have a good selection to choose from.

In an effort at some sort of coordination, I pulled out all the blue and white fabrics. After taxing my brain a bit at remembering how to sew a box, the first cover was sewn. The first, by far, took me the longest. Then it got easier and easier.

Our chairs have cushions on the backs of the chairs and cushions to sit on. Ours are also box shaped.

I learned from last time to NOT sew envelope enclosures. It was just too much finagling of the pillow form through a tight closure. It’s one thing working with a square down filled pillow cover, but it was completely different twisting and bending a large rectangular and tightly stuffed cushion into a small opening. It was frustrating and distorting the poly fill layers too much for my comfort.

I resorted to using snaps on the closures, and so far, they’ve worked SO MUCH BETTER.

Here’s how I sewed my new covers for my box style patio chair cushions:

1. Measure each side of your cushions. Taking into consideration seam allowance (I used a quarter of an inch seam allowance on this project), cut out fabric pieces to fit each side.

Here is a clear illustration of all the pieces I cut.

Below are all the pieces I need for the front of my cushion. Just another reminder that if your square cushions are 3 inches thick on the sides, you’ll need to cut fabric that is 3 1/2 inches thick. You need to add the quarter inch on each side that will be used for seam allowance.

2. Once all your pieces are cut, begin sewing them together. There’s one big secret to sewing boxes or squares. You MUST stop your stitch a quarter of an inch from the corner of your fabric when you are sewing the pieces together.

See below.

If the dotted lines are my stitches, I stop everything a quarter of an inch from the ends. I back stitch to secure the stitch at every end as well. By stopping at a quarter of inch, you can join your corners together to make a box shape.

So, here is what the front of my cushion cover looks like after I’ve sewn the pieces together:

Here is from the other side:

Here is where you will see how I stopped a quarter of an inch from the edge.

3. Now you need to measure the back and cut fabric for the back of your cushion.

Below are the pieces I will use for the back of my cushions. The top rectangle covers about 3/4 of the cushion. The bottom strip is a flap that will snap to the upper portion. This worked worked so much better for me than using an envelope closure.

Here are my cut pieces for the back:

See below where I hem these two pieces. I take the edge and fold it over an approximate quarter of an inch and stitch the raw edge down. I wanted two finished edges where these will be snapped together.

4. Let’s move back to the pieces you sewed together for the front of the cushion. Right now, we have a flat piece of fabric with the flaps off to the side.

It’s time to join the corners together to begin making our fabric into a box. Take two corners and join them together like the below picture. Once again, begin sewing a quarter of an inch from the edge and stop sewing a quarter of an inch.

See below for a better illustration of how these seams join together. By stopping each seam a quarter of an inch short, they were able to form a corner. Then they line up perfectly to seal up the corner.

Here’s what the front of my cushion looks like with the corners sewn together.

5. It’s time to add the back. We already cut the pieces for the backing and hemmed the raw edges where applicable.

Take the top fabric piece for your backing and attach it to the front.

Then take the bottom flap and attach it only at the bottom. Don’t sew it to the sides. See below how I now have a flap. With the cover made open like this, it was so easy to insert my old cushions.

6. The final step is to add some snaps to the flaps. I have a tutorial here to show you what snaps I use and how I add them to projects.

Four snaps seemed sufficient for keeping the flap nice and tight.

Once I get my patio all finished up, I’ll be sure to add some pictures here of the finished chairs. 🙂

Right now I’m quite thankful I have a reason to refinish these cushions. It’s finally warm enough to be outside!